Why is Ash so weak in the intro?
- When exactly did he learn Rising Dragon if he doesn't know it during that sequence?
- Presumably, he's grown stronger as a phantom, or being a phantom (and thus having no body to worry about beyond the chunk of material he's inhabiting at that moment) lets him do things he couldn't do as a human.
- But, the skill's description says it's the last skill he learned before he died. Considering the intro battle was right before he died there's no reason he shouldn't have the skill other than there wasn't a need for that powerful a skill.
- The best answer I can think of is that he learnt it at that one moment where he tells Haze and Jasmine to run and prepares to fight Wrath. He dies immediatly afterward so it's never shown but he could still have it.
- Presumably, he's grown stronger as a phantom, or being a phantom (and thus having no body to worry about beyond the chunk of material he's inhabiting at that moment) lets him do things he couldn't do as a human.
Ivoire has no indication of any real religion, so how can something be "Blasphemy Incarnate"?
- Figurative references to gods exist, but nothing beyond that. Ignore the thing from Another Marona, given how that works out and that no one has heard of him.
- It could also be figurative in general as well. To think one of the Nine Swords of Ivoire would reduce himself to wielding evil powers probably sounds blasphemous to the honor-based society the land's mercenaries seem to operate under.
- Considering what you have to do to earn the title (kill 50 of your own allies), and Sprout likely did that to living people rather than phantom copies (or whatever it is that Marona does), I'd say being called "Blasphemy Incarnate" is pretty appropriate.
Why did Scarlet abandon her children?
It's not like she wouldn't be able to take care of at least one of them (8 years since Sulpher's defeat, she's come to own the Bottlemail factory and several islands), and considering the age difference between Faded and Castile it comes off as incredibly callous to have put both of them up for adoption. Wouldn't it have been safer to keep both with her, hiding their identities, until the time came for her to tell them the truth?